


Open the Flood Gates

by FuntimesWithFoxy



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Family Drama, Flashback fic, Gen, Ghosts Use They/Them Pronouns, Hapstablook is Mettaton, Madstablook is Mad Dummy, Snapstablook is Training Dummy, mad dummy says big boy words, mettaton is bad at naming their cousin, possible mad dummy/muffet tease later on?, who needs a family when you got knives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 23:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5985133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuntimesWithFoxy/pseuds/FuntimesWithFoxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why did Mad Dummy become a dummy? And why is he as angry as he is? Short fic. (ABANDONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Open the Flood Gates

They lived upon a snail farm, one that trickled in business slower and slower these days. They supposed it came from the ever growing amount of technology coming out from dump. The cousins had lived there for as long as they could remember, and nobody seemed to mind the sheets of blanket that lingered about within the Waterfall; not even the aggressive fish woman that happened to reside next to them seemed to care. None of them could exactly detail how they were created, or how they came. One would give you a look as if he was worried about disappointing you about their lack of information on this, another simply laughing it off, and another giving you a blank stare. Only one would directly give an angry reaction, one that he could not simply contain. And that was Madstablook.

Madstablook wasn’t sure what kind of cruel person could give him such a name. It was as if whoever created them had marked them as some sort of freak, to be born as a man that would forever be a sin upon the Underground. The ghost would never even say that they were even “angry”, but more “open” than anything. If you were to ask them how they felt about something, they wouldn’t be giving you any lies to blanket what had occurred. They’d tell you the truth, plain and simple, even if it would be rude and harsh to say him. Lying, to him, made one look like a fool, and honesty was important to any ghost. Unsurprisingly, this led to folks believing they were quite a grouch, and their potential of obtaining any sort of friend dropped quickly. Even frequent trips around Waterfall helped little in getting much of anywhere. Rumors spread quickly around Underground, as everybody knew, and “Madstablook” wasn’t exactly the name of a person you think you would get along with.

The ghost had been lingering through the darkness that lingered without light being brought into the Waterfall. Pure darkness had hid the ghost in the wet landscape, with their whispers and grunts being brought to the echo flowers. They would play back, over and over again, until it all became a garbled mess, with more words of their own being brought into the mix. They had been sitting there for at least three hours by this point, making the faint whispers coming out the disturbed flowers make out to be a cluster of angry comments about their supposed problems. Like, for example, how Napstablook wouldn’t come out and do things with them as much anymore, being too busy with their aesthetics, and how Hapstablook, when they would check on them, would constantly be buying journals from the old turtle with the little money they made instead of using the rest of the pages. 

The one person in their family that they could stick with these days, however, was the last cousin. Out of all of them, it was them that never could get a name, for he would never say a thing about it, nor that they could ever think of a name that would suit him right. When it eventually came to the point of it, which meant more that Madstablook became tired of having a nameless cousin, and that Hapstablook found some strange thing in the junk with a ghost in it, they named him Snapstablook. Snapstablook was a little, silent ghost. Even when Napstablook and Hapstablook would come along to talk, not a single word would peep out of them. There was always a little quirk about him, however, and Madstablook always found it strange. It was that the ghost would only talk to them directly.

They’d give the others nudges or facial movements every now and then, when they would be out with the snails to show that they were listening and not completely a vegetable of a blanket sheet, but it was only Madstablook that he would come out directly to. It was this where Madstablook had given the smaller ghost their name, as the smaller ghost was almost like a volcano. If you let it built up too much, it would simply erupt, making a large mess over the landscape. It was only Madstablook that they would ever do this to, for the others, they knew, would either be too depressed or too peppy to get anywhere. Madstablook didn’t exactly understand their logic behind it, but at least it made the kid happy, and made him feel a little more important.

When Madstablook had found the outline of the smaller ghost lingering in the darkness, they had already laid out an outline of what was likely to happen, not forgetting despite the week or so that the ghost had been missing in view. The kid was going to panic about where in the world they had been all day. They would say that they were out doing their usual, and question why they were out here looking for him in the first place. He would get some reason that would go along the lines of “They keep making me do the work instead of doing it themselves!” or, even more childishly, “Hapstablook beat me in Thundersnail again, when we were training them, and told me if I kept exciting it like that, I would kill the snail, and I thought that was really mean, and, and…” Snap, as Madstablook would call them, was simply that way, and they knew that it was better than having to worry about worse things.

Madstablook, for all of their lifetime as a ghost, could not understand why they loved saying things three times in succession. It did bring emphasis to things, but it always seemed to bring unneeded negative attention to them. Yet, Madstablook could not stop the habit that day, and did it as such when they called out to Snap. “Snap. Snap? SNAP!” the ghost would yell out, the final call getting the attention of the blank faced ghost next to him, who would rotate and show their lack of emotion. The deep darkness that continued, resulting from not a single toadstool being lit, was surrounded by the echo flowers that would catch their call and repeat it to themselves in glee. When the two were alone, Madstablook knew that Snap was rarely blank-faced like this toward him, and left them wanting to know more.

“What is it with you?” Madstablook would ask Snap, with a disgruntled look upon what could be considered to be their face. “You’re not lookin’ like you right now, and I can tell you now that means that you got something worse than I thought on your mind,” Madstablook would continue, hoping that it would lead at least some response from the other ghost. Nothing would come out. A little rustled now, Madstablook would growl, “Look, if you’re just worried about me, I’m just doing this so I don’t look dumb in front of them. Apparently, these days, you gotta look PITCH PERFECT, and you know how all THAT is. Not even the KING is perfect. You don’t make your wife leave to the Ruins if you’re doing things right…” they would begin to run on, before noticing finally a change in the face of Snapstablook. They were frowning, and looking away from Madstablook. It took him a few seconds of shutting their blanket sheet hole of a mouth before Snapstablook would finally speak.

“It’s not about that,” they would mutter, “…it’s, it’s...” Mutters began to turn into blubbers, as the ghost began to erupt into tears, whining out their story. “Hapsta…Hapsta is gonna leave…they’re going to go and ditch us…”

“..what.” Madstablook would mutter, but Snapstablook would keep going forth with their explanation, with words being rushed and mashed together as Snapstablook continued to fail to control their feelings.

“…and Napstablook doesn’t look like they even care, and, and…”

“What?” Madstablook found this odd, considering that it was usually Snapstablook that be looking like the one not caring in the first place. Perhaps it was an exaggeration? They let their cousin continue.

“I tried talking Hapsta outta it, and, and they told me I shouldn’t care so much, as I never cared about anything according to them, and, and...waaah!” 

“What!?” Madstablook would finally yell out, confused and flustered by the blubbering coming out of their fellow cousin. “What are you even talking about? Hapstablook, leaving the farm? You’re out of your mind!” they would spurt out, making Snapstablook back away by being frightened by their tone. Madstablook would wait for the other ghost to at least try to recollect themselves, but it didn’t seem like it would do much. Finally, he spoke, “Don’t tell me it’s about that lizard that’s been coming..”

“Her name is Alphys, y'know…” the younger ghost would point out, in their weak, saddened voice. Madstablook had realized that the kid was all bummed out by this, so he tried to sooth himself a little, even if he couldn’t believe it. “You know, the one that…”

“..used to go to the dump. And, now she’s some fancy royal scientist. If only I could be something royal, instead of her.” Madstablook would state in annoyance, feeling a slight disgust for people above him. After all, he was just some snail farmer (an unofficial one, according to Hapstablook), along with the rest of ghosts. Snail farming doesn’t get you money. It just provides entertainment to the rare few people that wish to achieve some unachievable dream by speaking into flower, that happen to take the bird over the gap and see them. “After all, with all those cartoons she was blaring when she came over again, I couldn’t get any sleep…”

“You know why she came over, right?” Snapstablook would reply, making Madstablook begin to ponder. Now when they thought about it, they never exactly checked to find out what it was about. “And, uh…why I haven’t been around as of recent?” Snapstablook would continue, saying this in a more resigned voice, This especially sparked something in their head, making him need answers.

“What is it, Snap? This is important. Important. Important! Don’t leave me hanging!” Madstablook would snap, at Snap, out of all people. Snapstablook would just make a little, weak smile in response, trying to continue.

“Hapstablook’s been putting posters for some, uh…” Snapstablook would try clearing their throat, before laying out the reveal. “…a human fan club? When I heard they were going to actually do it, well…” Snapstablook would begin to sniffle. “I...I told them that it was so dumb, that I would go off to the Ruins if they were to do it. I-I’m…I’m being honest, okay? I don’t go back on my opinions, either…so, when I talked to Napstablook about it, I told him they could come to the Ruins sometime, if he really wanted to see me again, a-and...”

“That’s enough,” Madstablook would interrupt furiously, as if they was parent about to scold their own child. They would look over at the other ghost for a short moment with a blank stare, before constructing an own sad face of their own. It would look to seem like they were about to yell at them for saying such rude things to their cousin, and yet, he said a simple question. “Why would they do that?”

Snapstablook, if they had any shoulders, would have shrugged them. “I’ve been looking around their home when they weren’t looking. I…I’m sorry that I’ve been so mean to them, but…they want to go corporeal. Not only that, b-but…” Snapstablook would have started to break down again, if it weren’t for Madstablook floating over next to them to comfort them compared to being right in front of them. “..t-they think Alphys can do it…”

Madstablook would not reply for some time. Waterfall had become silent once more, except from the murmurs of the echo flowers. Finally, however, Madstablook would erupt, in the emotion they were most known for. “So, this is what it’s fuckin’ come to! Our family, betraying us like we’re trash even when we’re NOT lying on the floor! Oh, I’ll tell them, I’ll tell them alright…” They didn’t have a fist to shake, but it was clear that Madstablook was attempting to show his emotion as hard as possible towards his cousin, who would simply sigh, and look up over at Madstablook.

“J-just…make sure Napstablook comes over and sees me every now and then, cous’…” came out from Snapstablook, looking as if he was ready to go. “I…I told them that they could come along to the Ruins every now and then, and m-maybe I’d talk to them for once…”

Snapstablook would be interrupted by Madstablook rather quickly. “Don’t worry about it. They’ll get what they deserve. I’ll tell them,” they would grimly remark, repeating what he had spoken before as he finished. “Nobody makes Snap snap…especially like this.” Madstablook would look away in the darkness, wondering what sick brain could make a monster like a human, and go as far as to go corporeal because of them. 

“…well, goodbye, Madsta. I mean…I don’t know if we’ll see each other again, but…” Snapstablook would make a small smile, and try their best at making a little ghost hug. Madstablook would copy in response, wishing the best for his cousin, and, silently, wishing the worst for the ones that had to damn him. It had all happened fast, and yet, it changed everything. A trip to the Ruins took hours, and it was already suspicious enough when he travelled around Waterfall, and, rarely, Hotlands. How could he ever, and even despite that, how could Napstablook…?

Madstablook, having taken it all in, got himself to speak. “Don’t worry about it. This isn’t the end of the world, kid. I’ll…arrange everything, and, and, and...” And, with that, the outline of Snap abruptly vanished from Madstablook’s sight, showing they did understand, even if it may have not been the truth.

It was the last time Madstablook saw their cousin’s ghostly figure.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here it goes. My first fanfiction. I came up with this idea after submitting a few ideas to a friend of mine. Investigating characters that don't seem to get as much screen time seems to be a pastime of mine, so I decided to make my first fic about it. I'm open to criticism, so if you see any problems, I'll be glad to fix them up. (Especially with gender; it's really annoying when you end up writing "he" instead of "they" and have to fix it all up 1000 words later.) First chapter is short; other three may be a bit longer.


End file.
